On May 24, 2009, at 5:50 PM, MacGuy wrote: > anybody familiar with a make / model video camera that has firewire > and "pass-thru" to work as a webcam?
I don't think you're using the term "pass-thru" correctly? In older DV camcorders, the input jacks were analog RCA jacks, and the term "pass- thru" was used to pass the analog input from these jacks through the analog-to-digital (DV) conversion circuitry and then output that digital DV stream over the digital Firewire port (Sony calls Firewire "iLink"). So "pass-thru" was a way of having the camcorder act as an analog-to-digital convertor in "real time". This also meant that any analog video source, such as an analog webcam, or a VCR, or an analog TV signal could be converted to digital in real time by the "pass- thru". In this case, the lens and input from the camcorder are NOT active, and the lens cap can be on the camcorder. I believe what you're asking is something much simpler than "pass- thru", I believe you're just wanting to use the camcorder as a webcam without recording the session? I don't think this passive output mode is called "pass-thru"? I'm not sure what it's called, but I'd imagine most modern digital camcorders can do this? It'd be "live output" without recording, perhaps having some other name? Older Sony camcorders were of a variety whereby many different models were all the same camcorder, and the firmware controlled the number of functions available. In most cases it was possible to reprogram the firmware to enable all the functions of the high-end camcorder on the low-end model, BUT, this was a complicated undertaking requiring special homemade cables, a Windows PC, and enough knowledge of basic programming to be able to recalculate a hexadecimal "checksum". The program for enabling analog-to-digital "pass-thru" is called Anin.exe and is available here: <http://www.sps.volyne.cz/set1394/anin/analog.html This site in Czechoslovakia is a little hard to navigate, but most of the information is here if you dig around. This isn't a project for newbies to undertake, and new camcorders are so cheap and small that unless you already owned a low-end Sony and wanted to convert it to a high-end, I can't see any reason to undertake such a tough project. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
